The ecosystem modeling approach in the coniferous forest biome

This chapter outlines the approach taken by the author and associates in development of a total system model for the Coniferous Forest Biome, summarizes the current state of development of the model form and modeling capacity, and identifies several currently recognized problem areas.
No attempt is made to report the "process modeling" activities of the Biome, even though it is recognized that such activities contribute to the development of subsystem models in the total system model. Process
modeling is typically oriented to traditional disciplines and constrained by traditional boundaries and modes of thought. If the principles of general systems can contribute to the development of ecosystem theory through the development of explicit ecosystem models and model forms, then it islikely that some, or most, of the traditional boundaries and constraints must be abandoned.
The general orientation of the investigation here reported follows the view that modeling is the imposition of form and structure on knowledge, that scientific theory is a perceived order in a real world system, and hence that models are explicit expressions of theory. It follows that an attempt todevelop a general model form for an ecosystem is an attempt to develop aconceptual structure for ecosystem theory, and that a proposed paradigm for an ecosystem model is a proposed component of the general paradigm of ecosystems.